Plumbing press tools join copper tube mechanically: a press tool closes a fitting onto the tube, and the 2024 International Plumbing Code treats that joint as code work — made to a listed standard, per the manufacturer's instructions, with a tool certified by the manufacturer.
PEX runs on two other tool families: crimp and clamp tools (ASTM F1807/F2159) and expansion tools (ASTM F1960/F2080).
Here is what each system is, and who buys the tool.
What is press fitting and why has it spread?
A press fitting is a joint made mechanically.
The fitting goes onto the tube, and a press tool with jaws clamps it down until the connection seals — no solder, no torch.
The code speaks about the tool, too, and not just the pipe.
How far the method has spread is not something this page can say: our research sourced no adoption figures for press versus soldered or threaded joints, so no trend claim appears here.
What can be said precisely is the code treatment.
The 2024 International Plumbing Code gives press-connect joints their own installation rules (605.13.5): a copper press-connect joint must conform to a listed standard, be installed per the manufacturer's instructions — the tube reamed, cleaned, fully inserted — and be pressed with a tool certified by the manufacturer.
The practical takeaway for a new plumber is the tool-to-fitting pairing: the code's requirement is a tool the fitting's manufacturer certifies, and the maker's instructions — ream, clean, full insertion — carry the same code force.
PEX expansion vs crimp vs clamp
PEX has its own tool families, and the difference between them is the fitting standard each one serves:
| Family | Standard | What the tool works with |
|---|---|---|
| Crimp | ASTM F1807 | Metal insert fittings closed with a copper crimp ring |
| Clamp | ASTM F1807 (alternate) | The same metal insert fittings, closed with a stainless steel clamp instead of the copper ring |
| Plastic-insert crimp | ASTM F2159 | Plastic insert fittings — the plastic-insert version of the metal-insert crimp fitting |
| Expansion | ASTM F1960 / F2080 | Cold-expansion fittings — F1960 uses PEX reinforcing rings, F2080 uses metal compression sleeves |
Crimp and clamp are one family: the same ASTM F1807 metal insert fittings, closed with either a copper crimp ring or an alternate stainless steel clamp.
Expansion is a different system entirely, built on different fittings — and it is what the job-site phrase "PEX-A expansion" refers to.
Crimp and expansion are different kits.
The code ties the families together at the tubing.
IPC 2024 Table 605.5 lists twelve fitting standards for PEX — among them the crimp family (F1807, F2159) and the expansion family (F1960, F2080) — and requires PEX tubing to be factory-marked with the fitting standards its maker specifies.
That marking is the check to make before any PEX joint: each fitting is made to one of the standards, so read the tubing's marking, match fitting to tubing, and pick the tool that family takes.
Reading that off the materials before you start is the skill.
Do plumbers buy their own press tool?
The only written who-furnishes rules we can cite come from union documents — local agreements and a training page — and in the plumbing-side documents among them, the press tool never appears on the worker's side.
UA Local 469 (Arizona) requires every journeyman and apprentice it dispatches to carry its Exhibit 2 list, and that list is hand tools throughout — pipe wrenches, tube cutters, pliers, a level — with no press tool on it.
UA Plumbers Local 78 (Los Angeles) tells apprentice applicants they supply their own transportation and required tools, and no press tool appears in the list it names, which runs from tape measure to pipe wrenches and tube cutters to a hacksaw and torque wrench.
The Chicago example runs the other way entirely.
The Plumbers Local 130 agreement covering the Chicago area (2024-2028, with the Plumbing Contractors Association) says journeymen furnish only small pliers and a rule — all other tools are furnished by the employer.
In a shop under that agreement, the press kit is the employer's.
Three documents are examples, not a national norm — they are every plumbing-side record our research found, and for non-union shops we found no published norm for what the owner supplies.
So treat "who owns the press tool" as an interview question and ask it directly: which joining systems does the shop run, and who furnishes the tools for them?
The plumber tools list covers the bag itself, hand tool by hand tool, and the same page's employer section takes the broader who-furnishes-what question.
Two ground rules protect you either way.
Federal: under 29 CFR 531.35, if an employer requires workers to buy tools of the trade, the Fair Labor Standards Act is violated in any workweek where that cost cuts into the minimum wage or overtime owed — the U.S. Department of Labor enforces the FLSA.
And financial: this is not a buying guide, and we publish no tool prices because none were sourced — check suppliers for current numbers before budgeting for a tool you may not have to buy.
Which systems employers expect you to know
No survey in our research ranks joining systems by hiring demand, so the honest version of this answer is the code-and-standards floor: the systems a plumbing employer can put in front of you, and what competence in each looks like.
- Copper press (press-connect). Know that the joint is a listed system, that the maker's steps — ream, clean, full insertion — are code requirements rather than optional polish, and that the tool must be the one the manufacturer certifies.
- PEX crimp and clamp. Fittings to ASTM F1807 or F2159 — the crimp/clamp family; check the tubing's factory marking for the fitting standards it is rated for before you join anything.
- PEX expansion. Fittings to ASTM F1960 or F2080 — a different kit from crimp, with the same marking check.
- The habit underneath all three: read the tubing's marking, know which family the fitting belongs to, and match the tool to that family, every time.
Whatever name is on the box, the questions are the generic ones above: which system is this, what does the tubing's marking say, and which tool closes this joint?
Joining systems are one block of the wider screening set — our plumber skills guide puts press and PEX work alongside soldering, brazing, solvent weld and threading, and the plumber career guide maps where those skills take a career.
Safety and inspection notes
The code's safety logic is written into the joint steps.
The 2024 IPC's copper press-connect requirements read: "The tube shall be fully inserted into the press-connect fitting" and "Press-connect joints shall be pressed with a tool certified by the manufacturer."
Those two clauses are the standard in miniature: full insertion, and a tool the manufacturer certifies.
Read as a checklist, the section names the points that decide whether a copper press joint passes: the fitting conforms to a listed standard, the tube is reamed, cleaned and fully inserted per the manufacturer's instructions, and the joint is pressed with a certified tool.
The certified-tool clause is the practical one: the requirement is "a tool certified by the manufacturer", so the standard is set by the fitting maker — not by whatever press tool happens to be on the truck.
Career information, not legal or code advice — confirm current requirements with the authority that adopted your plumbing code (your city or county building department, or your state licensing board).
Every code statement here is IPC 2024 — your jurisdiction may enforce something else